A great sequel where we find our characters grow, struggle, and go above and beyond themselves. A fascinating Y.A. book that, despite being a fantasy book, doesn’t shy away from confrontations with reality. To describe this second part in one word: growth.

I also really enjoyed all the callbacks to the first book. There are quite a few moments where previous events, characters, and decisions come back into the story, and I thought that made the world feel much more connected. It was especially satisfying seeing how the characters had changed since their first adventure.

Overall, it’s a decent novel, all things considered, attempting to delve deeper into the protagonists’ emotions and taking on a more serious tone.

It's hard not to compare this novel to the previous one, you kind of have to. There's load of breadcrumps to follow throughout all the chapters of familiar characters. Nearly every chapter raised questions for me, as where the story might go. I love how a sense of mystery is woven into the differente storylines that ultimately get paid of.

I think this second installment improved a lot in terms of language use and writing style, and it is really intriguing to see events from the previous book tied into the storyline of this novel. There are also some more fun Dutch lore instances that made I appreciated and made me chuckle.

I struggled a bit to write down into words what made this so much better for me than book one and I think it is the growth of the author as a professional writer. Book 1 already had a fantastic setting and world-building down to the small details, but struggled in some areas that I have seen the author improve at five fold.